Page 54 of The Biker and the Gamer

“Only because you give it to me so good,” I remind him.

He sighs dramatically. “Yeah, I screwed myself there.”

I lift my head and bite his lip. “Ijust screwedyou.”

“To hell and back,” he agrees.

I roll off him and sprawl onto my back, catching my breath, before I admit, “Bali isn’t working.”

“Really? But you seemed to be havingsomuch fun.”

Lazily, I throw my hand out to smack him on his chest. “Shut it, smartass.”

“I always knew I wouldn’t like it here,” he says.

“And yet you still allowed me to drag you here.”

He rolls onto his side. “I’d do anything for you. Thought you knew that by now.”

Mimicking him, I roll to my side to face him. “I do. Hmm, I wonder why I haven’t been taking more advantage of that…”

“Because you’re nicer than you pretend to be.”

“Why’re you always tryna ruin my street cred? I’m notnice.”

“Sure,” he says with a grin that tells me he adores me. “Mom and Dad are stopping over in St. Lucia for two weeks. We can go spend the rest of our vacation there, and you can finally meet them in person.”

Since his parents are nomadic travelers, I’ve only ever met them via video calls. It would be great to finally meet them, have a meal with them. Plus his dad and I can bond more over weed—which he recently started smoking for his glaucoma.

“Have you ever been to St. Lucia?” I ask him.

“Nope.” He smiles. “So we can experience it for the first time together.”

“Then it’s a plan,” I agree. “’Cause I’m tired of twisting my ankles in the holes outside the villa and getting swarmed and harassed and scammed on the beach.”

“My parents would be the first to tell you not to expect to love everywhere you travel to. Some places will blow your mind, some places will be meh, and some places will leave you miserable and disappointed,” he tells me. “There are lots of places I’ve been to that I hated and couldn’t wait to get out of.”

“Hmm,” I hum, relaxed and enervated. “Maybe I’ll start listening to you more.”

He chuckles heartily. “Oh, what a day that'll be.”

Needing to feel him, feel his heat, I snuggle closer and press my face to his chest, inhaling him. “This time next year,” I tell his chest, “we’re getting married in Bora Bora.”

Through his chest, I can hear the slight spike of his heartbeat as he replies, “Okay.”

Okay? Holy shit, did I just…? And did he just sayokay? Lifting my head from his chest, I peer up at him, mildly panicked, yet not terrified by the idea. “I just proposed to you.”

His usually intense eyes are soft on me now, warm, loving. “I know.” And he smiles. “I’ve been waiting for it.”

I frown. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve wanted to ask you to marry me for six months now,” he confesses. “But I know you. It would’ve freaked you out, and most likely make you break up with me out of fear. I knew the best thing to do was to wait untilyouwere ready. And knowing how strong-willed you are, I knew that whenever you were ready you wouldn’t wait for me to ask.” He smooths his thumb over my eyebrow. “Baby, I may not know you on the core-level that I desperately want to know you on, but Iknow you. You’re mine. And I want to spend the rest of my life loving you, making you happy. So yes, this time next year I’m stamping your ass with an ‘officially mine’ claim in Bora Bora.”

Against all fight, my eyes blur with tears as I gaze up at him. “I love you, gamer boy,” I tell him, my voice cracking. “So fucking much.”

Cupping the side of my face, he lowers his head and brushes his lips ever so gently against mine. “Love you more, badass biker girl.”

I’d never admit it to him, maybe because I’m a stubborn ass, or maybe just to torture him, but I didn’t need that healer to tell me what I already know. Whatwealready know.

Alec Vaughn is, without a doubt, my true soulmate.